Handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services. In some embodiments, an Information Handling System (IHS) may include: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the IHS to: detect the presence of a person; output an audio greeting in response to the detection; receive an audio instruction in response to the audio greeting; transmit the audio instruction to a voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: (i) convert the audio instruction into a text instruction, and (ii) transmit the text instruction to an intelligent assistance provider; receive a command from the intelligent assistance provider, the intelligent assistance provider configured to generate the command based upon the text instruction; and execute the command.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to Information Handling Systems (IHSs), and, more particularly, to systems and methods for handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services.

BACKGROUND

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an Information Handling System (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and components may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. Variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.

In 2017, virtual assistants were estimated to have around 1 billion users worldwide. A virtual assistant is a software agent that performs computing tasks or services on behalf of a user, such as weather forecasting, setting alarms, making to-do lists, listening to music, playing videos, online shopping, etc. In various deployments, virtual assistants may be operated using smartphones, personal computers, and smart speakers.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of systems and methods for handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services are described. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, an Information Handling System (IHS) may include: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the IHS to: detect the presence of a person; output an audio greeting in response to the detection; receive an audio instruction in response to the audio greeting; transmit the audio instruction to a voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: (i) convert the audio instruction into a text instruction, and (ii) transmit the text instruction to an intelligent assistance provider; receive a command from the intelligent assistance provider, the intelligent assistance provider configured to generate the command based upon the text instruction; and execute the command.

To detect the presence of the person, the program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to monitor presence data while the IHS is operating in a standby or low-power mode. Additionally, or alternatively, to detect the presence of the person, the program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to receive the presence data from a sensor selected from the group consisting of: a camera, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an eye-tracking sensor, a motion sensor, and a proximity noise sensor. Additionally, or alternatively, to detect the presence of the person, the program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to receive the presence data from a keystroke detector or a mouse movement detector.

In some cases, the audio instruction may direct the IHS to record an audio or video message, and execution of the command may cause the IHS to record the audio or video message. The program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to transmit the audio or video message to the voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: convert the audio or video message into a text message, and transmit the text message to an away user of the IHS via at least one of: e-mail, text message, or Short Messaging Service (SMS), or Rich Communication Service (RCS). Additionally, or alternatively, the program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to transmit the audio or video message to an away user of the IHS via at least one of: voice mail, or video mail.

The program instructions, upon execution, may further cause the IHS to provide context information to the intelligent assistant provider, and the intelligent assistance provider may be configured to generate the command, at least in part, based upon the context information.

The audio instruction may include a status inquiry about an away user of the IHS, execution of the command may cause the IHS to playback a message containing a status of the away user, and the status may be obtained from the context information. Additionally, or alternatively, the audio instruction may include a contact inquiry for an away user of the IHS, where execution of the command causes the IHS to playback a message containing contact information of the away user.

In another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, a hardware memory device may have program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a processor of an Information Handling System (IHS), cause the IHS to: receive an audio instruction from a person other than a user of the IHS while the user is away and the IHS is credential-locked; transmit the audio instruction to a voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: (i) convert the audio instruction into a text instruction, and (ii) transmit the text instruction to an intelligent assistance provider; receive a command from the intelligent assistance provider, the intelligent assistance provider configured to generate the command based upon the text instruction; and execute the command.

For example, the audio instruction may direct the IHS to record an audio or video message, and execution of the command may cause the IHS to record the audio or video message. The program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to transmit the audio or video message to the voice service provider, and the voice service provider may be configured to: convert the audio or video message into a text message, and transmit the text message to an away user of the IHS via at least one of: e-mail, text message, or Short Messaging Service (SMS), or Rich Communication Service (RCS). Additionally, or alternatively, the program instructions, upon execution, may cause the IHS to provide context information to the intelligent assistant provider, where the intelligent assistance provider is configured to generate the command, at least in part, based upon the context information.

In some cases, the audio instruction may include a status inquiry about the away user, where execution of the command causes the IHS to playback a message containing a status of the away user, and where the status is obtained from the context information. Additionally, or alternatively, the audio instruction may include a contact inquiry about the away user, and execution of the command may cause the IHS to playback a message containing contact information of the away user.

In yet another illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, a method may include receiving an audio instruction from a person other than a user of the IHS while the user is away and the IHS is credential-locked; transmitting the audio instruction to a voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: (i) convert the audio instruction into a text instruction, and (ii) transmit the text instruction to an intelligent assistance provider; receiving a command from the intelligent assistance provider, the intelligent assistance provider configured to generate the command based upon the text instruction; and executing the command.

The audio instruction may direct the IHS to record an audio or video message, where execution of the command causes the IHS to transmit the audio or video message to the voice service provider, and where the voice service provider is configured to: convert the audio or video message into a text message, and transmit the text message to an away user of the IHS via at least one of: e-mail, text message, or Short Messaging Service (SMS), or Rich Communication Service (RCS).

The method may further comprise providing context information to the intelligent assistant provider, where the intelligent assistance provider is configured to generate the command, at least in part, based upon the context information, where the audio instruction includes a status inquiry about the away user, where execution of the command causes the IHS to playback a message containing a status of the away user, and where the status is obtained from the context information. Moreover, the audio instruction may include a contact inquiry about the away user, and execution of the command may cause the IHS to playback a message containing contact information of the away user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention(s) is/are illustrated by way of example and is/are not limited by the accompanying figures. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity, and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates examples of components of an intelligent assistance environment according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates examples of components of an Information Handling System (IHS) according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates examples of components of a voice service according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates examples of components of an intelligent assistance service according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a method for providing intelligent assistance using voice services according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a method for providing context-based intelligent assistance according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a method for handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates components of intelligent assistance environment 100. As depicted, environment 100 includes client computing devices 102A-N operated by human users. For example, client computing devices 102A-N may be implemented as instances of Information Handling System (IHS) 200 shown in FIG. 2.

Client computing devices 102A-N may be coupled to network 107. Network 107 may include any combination of public switched telephone network (PSTN), packet-based communication network (e.g., the Internet), local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), or any other communications network, including a wireless network, a cable transmission system, a satellite transmission system, or the like.

Voice service providers (VSPs) 104A-N may also be coupled to network 107. Each of VSPs 104A-N may include one or more servers and/or cloud-compute resources configured to provide voice or speech-based assistance to the users of client computing devices 102A-N. In various implementations, VSPs 104A-N may include APPLE's SIRI, GOOGLE ASSISTANT, AMAZON ALEXA, MICROSOFT CORTANA, IBM WATSON, and/or certain components thereof, which may be available as a service to third-parties and/or developers.

In operation, software executed by client device 102A may detect an utterance or verbal command issued by the user. Client device 102A collects and packetizes the audio signal, and transmits the audio signal to at least one of VSPs 104A-N. The receiving VSP 104A-N decodes and/or interpret the contents of the packetized audio signal, and then performs some responsive action based upon the decoding and/or interpretation.

Voice commands interpreted by VSPs 104A-N can span a wide range of applications. In a simple scenario, when a user of client device 102A asks the time of day, VSP 104A may return an audio file with an audio response, which client device 102A may play back to the user through a speaker. In other scenarios, commands can be more complex: if a user asks client device 102A to play a song by a particular artist, VSP 104A may identify the name of artist in the user's utterance, and it may then search a third-party music service (e.g., over network 107) set up for that artist. Once the music service is found, VSP 104A may send a command to client device 102A to play the requested song.

In some cases, any number of peripheral devices 103A-N may be coupled to any one of client devices 102A-N (e.g., via Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.). Peripheral devices 103A-N may include various items such as: cameras, microphones, speakers, user interface devices (e.g., mouse, tablet, totem, etc.), or entire IHSs.

Intelligent assistance provider 101, knowledgebase provider 105, and customer/technical support provider 106 are all coupled to network 107. Customer/technical support 106 may enable any services by which an enterprise (e.g., a manufacturer) can provide hardware, software, or other assistance to users of client computing devices 102A-N. In different implementations, support services 106 may be delivered remotely via a website or live by a human being, using chat, messaging, phone calls, remote desktop connections, etc.

Knowledgebase 105 includes computing resources and/or databases configured to store complex structured and/or unstructured information, such as documents, articles, manuals, guides, diagnostics, electronic files, downloads, warranty documents, etc. relating to client computing devices 102A-N and/or their operation. In some situations, users operating devices 102A-N and/or support personnel 106 may have access to knowledgebase 105 in order to retrieve relevant documentation to help solve a technical problem, install or remove software, maintain hardware parts, perform virus scans or backup operations, etc.

For purposes of this disclosure, an IHS may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, calculate, determine, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, communicate, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an IHS may be a personal computer (e.g., desktop or laptop), tablet computer, mobile device (e.g., Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or smart phone), server (e.g., blade server or rack server), a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. An IHS may include Random Access Memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, Read-Only Memory (ROM), and/or other types of nonvolatile memory.

Additional components of an IHS may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various I/O devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, touchscreen, and/or a video display. An IHS may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components. An example of an IHS is described in more detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of components of IHS 200. In various embodiments, IHS 200 may be used to implement clients 102A-N and/or devices 103A-N. Moreover, the hardware components of IHS 200 may also be used to implement certain computing entities of knowledge base 105, customer/technical support provider 106, intelligent assistance provider 101, voice service providers 104A-N, and/or network 107.

As shown, IHS 200 includes processor 201. In various embodiments, IHS 200 may be a single-processor system, or a multi-processor system including two or more processors. Processor 201 may include any processor capable of executing program instructions, such as a PENTIUM, CORE, XEON, ATOM, or CELERON series processor, or any general-purpose or embedded processors implementing any of a variety of Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs), such as an x86 or x86-64 (AMD64) ISA, or a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) ISA (e.g., POWERPC, ARM, SPARC, MIPS, etc.).

IHS 200 includes chipset 202, which may comprise one or more integrated circuits (ICs) coupled to processor 201. In certain embodiments, chipset 202 may utilize a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus to communicate with processor 201. Chipset 202 provides processor 201 with access to a variety of resources. For instance, chipset 202 provides access to memory 203. Memory 203 may be configured to store program instructions and/or data accessible by processor 201. In various embodiments, memory 203 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) or magnetic disks, or any nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, such as a solid-state drive (SSD) or the like.

Chipset 202 may also provide access to graphics processor 204. In certain embodiments, graphics processor 204 may be part of one or more video or graphics cards installed as components of IHS 200. Graphics processor 204 may be coupled to chipset 202 via a graphics bus such as provided by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus or a PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) bus. In certain embodiments, graphics processor 204 may be integrated into CPU or processor 201. In operation, graphics processor 204 generates display signals and provides them to a monitor, panel, or other display device.

Other resources may also be coupled to processor 201 through chipset 202. For instance, chipset 202 may be coupled to network interface 205, such as a Network Interface Controller (NIC). In certain embodiments, network interface 205 may be coupled to chipset 202 via a PCIe bus or the like. In various embodiments, network interface 205 may support communication via various wired and/or wireless networks.

Embedded Controller (EC) 206 may be coupled to processor 201 via chipset 202 using SPI, eSPI, System Management Bus (SMBus), or shared interface techniques. Typically, EC 206 may be implemented as a microcontroller that handles tasks that the OS does not handle, such as receiving and processing signals from a keyboard, turning the IHS on and off, thermal measurement and response, controlling visual indicators, managing a battery, allowing remote diagnostics, service, and remediation, etc. In various embodiments, OS-to-EC Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) may be provided by EC 206 to the OS which allows the OS to make requests to EC 206 regarding various components of IHS 200.

User interface devices 207 may include a keyboard, trackpad, thumb drive, etc. In some embodiments, user interface device 207 may include audio controller 208, which may in turn be coupled to microphone(s) 209 and audio speaker(s) 210.

In some cases, audio controller 208 may include an audio front-end (AFE) configured to clean up input speech from near- and far-field sources, and a wake word engine (WWE) configured to recognize commands that trigger the launching or operation of a voice service. In many cases, audio controller 208 may include circuitry and/or program instructions configured to perform beamforming, echo cancellation, noise suppression, integrated audio decoding and post-processing, and/or multi-room networking and audio output.

Memory 203 may store program instructions that, upon execution by processor 201, provide intelligent assistant agent 211 configured to send utterances to VSPs 104A-N and/or to receive directives from intelligent assistant provider 101. Moreover, intelligent assistant agent 211 may be configured to perform operations usable to implement techniques described in more detail below. For example, intelligent assistant agent 211 may provide APIs to route commands to local applications that can handle those commands (e.g., retrieve support topics for a local technical support application, send and receive questions to customer/technical support provider 106, enable gaming capabilities in certain IHSs, specific platform functions, etc.). In some cases, intelligent assistant agent 211 or any portion thereof may be executed by audio controller 208.

In various embodiments, IHS 200 may not include each of the components shown in FIG. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, IHS 200 may include components in addition to those that are shown in FIG. 2 (e.g., storage devices, Super I/O controllers, USB ports, etc.). Furthermore, some components that are represented as separate components in FIG. 2 may, in some embodiments, be integrated with other components. In various implementations, all or a portion of the functionality provided by the illustrated components may be provided by components integrated as a System-On-Chip (SOC) or the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of voice service 300. In various embodiments, voice service 300 may be implemented by one or more of VSPs 104A-N shown in FIG. 1. Generally, voice service engine 301 receives input 305, and produces output 306 after processing input 305 through Speech-To-Text (STT) module or processor 302 and/or Natural Language Processing (NLP) module or processor 303, which includes Natural Language Understanding (NLU) module or processor 304 as a subset thereof.

Input 305 may include packetized or digitized audio collected, streamed, or otherwise transmitted by client devices 102A-N, as well as information about the client device itself, and/or the user (e.g., IP or MAC address, access credentials, etc.), and/or other contextual metadata (e.g., location, active application, etc.). STT module 302 enables engine 301 to transform the audio portion of input 305 into text, and NLP module 303 performs language syntax and semantics processing, turning text into structured data.

NLU module 304 may use a lexicon, a parser, and/or grammar rules to break sentences into internal representations. The language interpretation capabilities of NLU module 304 may depend on the internal semantic theory or algorithm it employs, which can use stochastic and/or pragmatic semantic analysis to derive meaning from context. In operation, NLU module 304 may enable voice service engine 301 to implement word filters, sentiment detection, topic classification, etc.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of intelligent assistance service 400 that may be implemented by intelligent assistance provider 101 of FIG. 1. In various embodiments, intelligent assistance service 400 may enable various unique intelligent assistance features and functionality to users and client devices 102A-N using voice services 300 otherwise available from VSPs 104A-N.

Intelligent assistance engine 401 is coupled to client devices 102A-N via client connectivity manager 402, and it is coupled to VSPs 104A-N via VSP gateway 403. Intelligent assistance engine 401 may provide APIs that interface from the voice skills side (e.g., AMAZON's “AWS Lambda” or MICROSOFT's “Bot Framework”) of VSP 104A-N (e.g., voice services engine 301) to one or more target client devices 102A-N. Intelligent assistance engine 401 may also be configured to route messages to a voice endpoint, which allows VSP 104A-N to reach a target client device or multiple devices, and/or to serve as a connection broker to client devices 102A-N (e.g., open low traffic connectivity for closed loop device control/access).

Particularly, client connectivity manager 402 may be configured to receive requests, instructions, information and/or output signals from client devices 102A-N, which may include, but are not limited to: a user's identification, preferences, and/or credentials (e.g., username, account name); the device's hardware and software identification and/or configuration (e.g., a manufacturer's service tag or serial number); use and/or deployment context (e.g., mode of operation, maximized/minimized or open/closed software applications); physical and/or geographical location (e.g., latitude and longitude, geographic market or region); identification, type and/or quality of network connectivity (e.g., IP address, MAC address, bandwidth); etc.

In some cases, client connectivity manager 402 may also receive an indication that a service provided by VSPs 104A-N has been accessed by client devices 102A-N, as well as any information associated with the service (or session), such as the VSPs 104A-N's response to request(s) issued by client devices 102A-N.

VSP gateway 403 may be configured to receive requests, instructions, information and/or output signals from any of VSPs 104A-N, which may include, but are not limited to: a VSP's identification, status, and/or configuration; input signal 305 and/or output signal 306; data from voice services engine 301, STT module 302, NLP module 303, and/or NLU module 304; etc. In some cases, VSP gateway 403 may also receive information associated with voice service requests request(s) issued by client devices 102A-N targeting VSPs 104A-N.

Intelligent assistant engine 401 also controls and maintains rules database 404 and context and/or state database 405, and each database is configured to store entries related to each of VSPs 104A-N and client devices 102A-N. In some cases, rules database 404 may include logic rules that determine aspects of the operation of engine 401, described in more detail below. Context and/or state database 405 may include, for each client device 102A-N and/or user, a current physical location, a list of open applications (minimized or maximized), available hardware resources, information about nearby devices, information about preceding voice-based interactions in the same or a different session, etc.

In some embodiments, databases 404 and 405 may be consolidated and/or physically distributed across different sites. Each of databases 404 and/or 405 may include any suitable type of application and/or data structure that may be configured as a persistent data repository. For example, databases 404 and 405 may be configured as relational databases that include one or more tables of columns and rows and that may be searched or queried according to a query language, such as a version of Structured Query Language (SQL). Alternatively, databases 404 and/or 405 may be configured as a structured data stores that include data records formatted according to a markup language, such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML). In various implementations, databases 404 and/or 405 may be implemented using one or more arbitrarily or minimally structured data files managed and accessible through any suitable type of application, and/or may include a database management system (DBMS) configured to manage the creation, maintenance, and use of databases 404 and/or 405.

In some embodiments, intelligent assistance engine 401 may be configured to provide voice-based functionality to client devices 102A-N that would otherwise not be available directly from VSPs 104A-N. Additionally, or alternatively, intelligent assistance engine 401 may be configured to complement, create, add, and/or modify certain voice-based functionality provided by VSPs 104A-N.

For example, intelligent assistance engine 401 may enable session-, context-, user-, and/or device-aware voice-based interactions, providing voice-based functionality in the area of device control. In these cases, engine 401 may interpret and/or modify input 305 and/or output 306 depending upon specific hardware and/or software features of a given client device, in order to control components of that client device.

Additionally, or alternatively, engine 401 may be configured to interpret and/or modify input 305 and/or output 306 depending upon user preferences, use, context, and/or mode (e.g., software application being executed, peripheral coupled to the client device, etc.). These interactions may take place, for example, during a technical support session with a live agent 106, or any other operation involving knowledgebase 105.

In other implementations, engine 401 may enable operations that are specific to a client device's out-of-box experience (OOBE), backup or maintenance processes, etc. In the case of OOBE, once an Operating System (OS) or other initial installation process has proceeded to a selected point, a voice serve may introduce itself (e.g., via an audio prompt), and the service may walk a user through a manufacturer's (or other) registration process.

Moreover, engine 401 may be configured to control multiple client devices, so support commands such as: “update all of my computers” and “lock all of my computers” may be executed. In some cases, engine 401 may enable operations beyond support software exoneration (e.g., maxed CPU, disk usage, optimizations), and may present a pathway to offer upgrades/accessories to make a customer's IHS faster, for example (e.g., HDD to SSD upgrade, addition of memory, and check system capabilities vs. updates available).

Other examples of capabilities enabled by engine 401 include platform device control (e.g., volume and display, as well as extended functions, such “locking or updating all of my computers.”), level 1 technical support (e.g., information lookups, warranty info, optimizations, and level 1 support commands such as “why is my computer slow?”), and backup (e.g., proactive experiences and procedures for helping users to broker and setup backups using cloud storage or backup solutions).

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of method 500 for providing intelligent assistance using voice services. In some embodiments, method 500 may involve the participation of client 102 (e.g., one of clients 102A-1V), VSP 104 (e.g., one of VSPs 104A-1V), and/or intelligent assistance provider 101.

During operation of method 500, client 102 uses intelligent assistant agent 211 (in FIG. 2) to transmit identification, state, configuration, operation, and/or context information 501 to intelligent assistance provider 101. Then, client 102 captures and transmits audio instruction 502 to VSP 104. In response, VSP 104 converts audio instruction 502 into text instruction 504, and transmits text instruction(s) 504 to intelligent assistance provider 101. Then, client 102 receives command 505 from intelligent assistance provider 101, which is generated by provider 101 using text instruction(s) 504, and executes command 505.

In many cases, client 102 receives audio response 503 from VSP 104. In those cases, intelligent assistant agent 211 may be configured to synchronize playback of audio response 503 with execution of command 505, for example, when audio response 503 is received at a time different than (e.g., prior to) command 505. In some cases, playback of audio response 503 may be buffered pending execution of command 505. Additionally, or alternatively, execution of command 505 may be buffered pending playback of audio response 503.

Identification and/or context information 501, audio instruction 502, and/or text instruction(s) 504, may include a service tag of client device 102. As used herein, the term “service tag” refers to a unique number (or alphanumeric string) assigned to client 102 (often found on the bottom, side, or back of the product), as part of the manufacturing of client 102. In some scenarios, use of a service tag enables intelligent assistance provider 101 to generate command 505, for example, using technical support information associated with client 102, which many be stored by customer/technical support provider 106 and retrievable by intelligent assistance provider 101 over network 107.

Referring back to FIG. 4, in various embodiments, intelligent assistance provider 101 may be configured to generate command 505 by applying rules, stored in rule database 404, to context information 501 stored in context database 405, as context information 501 is provided to intelligent assistance provider 101 via client connectivity manager 405. As such, in these embodiments, command 505 may be generated based upon an interpretation of audio instruction 502 made in light of context information 501 that is not available to VSP 104.

In some cases, context information 501 may include a network connection state or physical location of client 102, and/or a time of audio instruction 502. Using location, network, and/or time information, intelligent assistance provider 101 may be capable of determine, for instance, whether client 102 is at a known work site at the time of instruction 502. If so, command 505 may enable operations in client 102 that cannot be made available off-site, such as: accessing out-of-band resources, handling selected documents, etc.—without VSP 104 having the location, network, and/or time information.

Additionally, or alternatively, context information 501 may include identification and status of a software application executable by client 102. Using the software application information, intelligent assistance provider 101 may be capable of determine, for instance, whether client 102 has the application installed and/or in execution, as well as whether the application is maximized, minimized, or closed, at the time of instruction 502. In these cases, command 505 may enable operations in client 102 that are specific to a particular application, such as: playing a media file, editing a document, performing a backup operation, etc.—without VSP 104 having the software application information.

Additionally, or alternatively, context information 501 may include an identification of hardware parts (e.g., components 201-210) or peripheral devices (e.g., devices 103A-1V) coupled to client 102, such as name, type, model, status, etc. And, in these cases, command 505 may enable client 102 to apply command 505 to the hardware part or peripheral device—without VSP 104 having the hardware part or peripheral device information.

In various embodiments, text instruction(s) 504 may be generated, at least in part, by brokering the use of different language models during a speech recognition operation performed by VSP 104. Moreover, at least one of the different language models may be selected based upon context information 501. The selected language model may include a term, such as a brand, a service, a product, an operation, etc., that is relevant to client 102 having its current configuration as of the time of audio instruction 502—even if the term is not otherwise recognized by VSP 104 based upon audio instruction 502 alone, for example, using a generic language model.

In general, speech-to-text conversion may be accomplished using sets of data to train two components: (a) a recurrent neural network (RNN), which handles audio-to-character or phoneme conversion, and (b) a language model, which converts raw character/phoneme input into grammatically correct sentences and thoughts using n-gram beam search methods.

Additional context information (e.g., knowing that a user has a particular application running, for example), can enable context-based intelligent assistance systems and methods described herein to dynamically load a domain-specific language model in parallel to the primary general language model for accuracy refinement. Multiple hits on a particular domain model (evidence that a user is actively talking about a particular subject matter) may be used to improve prediction biases to the domain model. Additionally, deploying with domain-specific language models enables the retraining of a specific domain lexicon for lexical updates, rather than requiring retraining of the general language model. Domain-specific language models also facilitate multi-language domains to be isolated from their native language model supersets.

As such, systems and methods described herein may be said to be “speech engine agnostic,” meaning that the intelligence assistance engine is capable of using any or all of voice services 104A-N to implement the same or different skills. It should be noted that the architecture described herein scales up to supporting millions of devices. In contrast, the industry's focus has been toward command/control or query/answer; not user experiences that interact with a user to solve problems and enable future use cases that require more than a simple cloud response/action. In the examples described herein, however, client device skills may be written that work whether using ALEXA, CORTANA, GOOGLE ASSISTANT, or any other suitable voice service.

Turning now to FIG. 6, method 600 for providing context-based intelligent assistance is depicted. In various embodiments, method 600 may be performed exclusively by VSP 104, and each of components 602-606 may be implemented by voice services engine 301. Alternatively, method 600 may be performed exclusively by intelligence assistant provider 101, and each of components 602-606 may be implemented by intelligence assistance engine 401. Alternatively, method 600 may be performed through cooperation between VSP 104 and intelligence assistant provider 101, facilitated by an exchange of text message(s) 504, such that one or more of components 602-606 are implemented by intelligence assistance engine 401, and one or more other components 602-606 are implemented by voice services engine 301.

In operation, decoder 602 receives an audio portion 601 of audio instruction 301 and produces a connectionist temporal classification (CTC) output and associated score, as part of a recurrent neural network (RNN), which are then provided to model broker 603. Model broker 603 may apply generic language model 604 (e.g., for the English language) to the output of decoder 602, as well as any number of domain-specific language models 605A-N, which many be selected depending upon context information 501. The output of each of language model(s) 604 and 605A-N may be used by context-enriched, ensemble beam searcher 606 to produce text output 607 by returning a list of most likely output sequences, which are then usable to generate text instruction(s) 504.

In various embodiments, method 600 may use dynamic contextual knowledge from speech and non-speech sources to control loading and bias towards domain-specific language models. For sake of illustration, consider an example where the output of the generic language model provides the following text: “Cindy I was the alien we're nvidia Titan X. P. demo for cigarettes coming along.” A first domain-specific language model 605A may be selected based upon context information 501 indicating that client 102 is from a given manufacturer, and therefore may include terms particular to products from that manufacturer. In this example, the output of first domain-specific language model 605A may include the term “Alienware” (which may also be provided to second domain-specific model 605B).

Still referring to the same example, second domain-specific language model 605B may be selected based upon context information 501 indicating that client 102 is configured with a particular graphics hardware part or peripheral component, and therefore may include terms particular to products from that hardware part or peripheral. And the output of second domain-specific language model 605B may include the terms “NVidia Titan Xp” and “Siggraph”). As a result, the output of beam searcher 606 may provide “Cindy how is the Alienware NVidia Titan Xp demo for Siggraph coming along?” after using the corrected words and grammar structures to fix “I was” and to add the question mark to complete the sentence.

In some cases, intelligent assistant agent 211 may include a conversational bot or chatbot software with a neural network-based speech to text engine at its core. The software may have knowledge of running user applications, service entitlements, geography, IT-managed internal company language models (e.g., including internal product and service names, etc.), calendar meetings, and organization directory data.

Domain-specific language models that may be used by the bot may include: (a) application-specific language models managed by application developers (e.g., cells, sheets, formulas, rows, columns, etc. for a spreadsheet application lexicon), (b) third-party user-added language models for personalization (e.g., putter, chip, pin, trap, drive, etc. for a golf lexicon), (c) geographic language models for landmarks, celebrity/political names, locations, etc., (d) internal company language models for common acronyms, products, services, and other company lingo that is managed by a central or team-specific authority (e.g., DELL product names such as ALIENWARE, PRECISION, OPTIPLEX, INSPIRON, XPS, etc.), and/or (e) organization directory data for employee/partner/customer name language models for richer interpretation and accuracy of names based on subject and parties involved in a meeting, for example.

In various embodiments, language models may be loaded into the speech-to-text engine permanently or dynamically based on contextual event data. In addition, language models may be weighted more heavily when domain models are being heavily used, and may be updated and managed independently of the rest of the solution, streamlining and enriching speech-to-text experiences.

In various implementations, systems and method described herein may enable the use of voice assistants to help a user with computer support and other integrated and/or extended activities beyond the otherwise simple question-and-answer response models that exist today. Moreover, these techniques may be scaled to handle millions of client devices 102A-N.

For example, audio instruction 502 may include a verbal registration request as part of an Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE) of client device 102. In response, intelligent assistant provider 101 may check a registration record, and it may cause VSP 104 to return audio response 503 that allows the user to interactively proceed though one or more steps of a registration process to make the user aware of voice skills or commands available to client device 102.

For instance, online warranty registration may be performed using a service tag to tie client device 102 to the user's account, upon user's confirmation. Moreover, audio response 503 may describe functions available specifically to client device 102, such as: information and help functions; platform operation for device 102 (e.g., display control, volume control, locking, etc.) and/or other devices registered to the same user or in the physical vicinity of device 102; support, update, security, and backup operations; information about devices belonging to the same user account; etc. Furthermore, the systems and methods described herein may provide a pathway to offer the user upgrades and/or accessories to client device 102 (e.g., audio instruction 502 may check system capabilities against updates available).

Examples of audio instructions 501 and responses 503 that enable platform operations according to systems and methods described herein may include, but are not limited to: “When is my next meeting?”, “increase brightness,” “pair to Bluetooth speaker,” “get battery level,” “alert me when my battery gets to 20%,” “open CHROME,” “play music,” “go to sleep,” “take a screenshot,” “mute my computer,” “open final presentation,” “find an open conference room,” “turn on Wi-Fi,” “next song,” “turn up system volume,” “turn on battery saver,” “set volume to 50%,” “what's on my calendar today,” “go to the next slide,” “enable do not disturb,” “tell my computer goodbye,” “login as Sam,” “install support software,” etc.

Examples of audio instructions 501 and responses 503 that enable support operations according to systems and methods described herein may include, but are not limited to: “you seem to have a runaway process,” “install support assistance,” “how do I extend my battery life,” “update my system,” “what is my service tag,” “my computer has a virus,” “why is my system slow,” “what is my express code,” “how can I make my system faster,” “contact the manufacturer,” “help free up space,” “optimize my system,” “why is my screen blank,” “clean my computer,” “when does my warranty expire,” “it looks like your hard drive will fail soon,” “what is my warranty,” “upgrade my warranty,” “we have noticed your battery is failing,” “you have not backed up your computer recently, would you like me to help you with that,” “your system is vulnerable, would you like me to update it,” etc.

In today's busy work environments, it can be difficult to track people down. Persons often enter an individual's office or cubical only to find that the individual they're seeking is away or away from their space. Leaving paper notes takes time, and these types of messages are prone to loss and de-prioritization. Moreover, sending follow-up emails or voice mails to schedule subsequent meetings with the away user can be inconvenient, and can easily be forgotten due to distractions in the workplace.

To address these concerns, in various embodiments, systems and methods described herein may provide an away assistant capable of, for example, capturing and transmitting text, audio, or video messages to a user's client device 102 while that user is away.

In some cases, techniques described herein may be used to: (i) perform speech-to-text on a message and forward to another notification source (e.g., text message, Short Messaging Service or “SIMS,” email, voice mail, etc.); (ii) enable an away user to record a personal greeting (e.g., “Hi, I've stepped away from my desk for a few moments, but my assistant can help”); (iii) offer a visitor information regarding the away user status or current activities (e.g., “Where is your user?—John is in a meeting in Coupland until 3:00 pm.”); (iv) alert the away user to presence detection, of a visitor, in their workspace; and/or (v) capture an image or video of the workspace, when possible, in addition to voice.

Additionally, or alternatively, techniques described herein may be used to allow intelligent assistance to operate when a lock screen is engaged and/or when the client device 102 is in a low-power mode (e.g., standby), such that its operation would otherwise ordinarily require the authorized user's credentials. Even when credential-locked, client device 102 may detect presence of unknown individual, for example, through a camera, eye-tracking and/or motion sensor, proximity sensor, keystroke detector, mouse movement detector, and/or other available presence indication (e.g., infrared, ultrasound, etc.).

In various implementations, intelligent assistance techniques may tie into existing calendar or other scheduling application to offer contextual information about an away user's activities and/or location. Additionally, or alternatively, intelligent assistance techniques may convey contact information of the visitor, to the away user. In some cases, the contact information of the visitor may not be directly provided by that visitor, and intelligent assistance may instead look-up that visitor's information in a database based on the visitor's name, biometric information, etc.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of method 700 for handling away messages with intelligent assistance using voice services. In various embodiments, operations 701-717 may be performed through cooperation among client device 102, VSP 104, intelligent assistance engine 401, and context or state cache 405.

At block 701, method 700 may enable a user of client device 102 to record a text, audio, or video greeting for a visitor; which may then be stored in context and/or state database 405, for example. While under a screen lock condition 702, which here indicates that the user of client device 102 is away, block 703 detects the physical presence of a visitor, for instance, using a camera, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an eye-tracking sensor, a motion sensor, or a proximity noise sensor. Alternatively, block 703 may use presence data received from a keystroke software detector or a mouse movement software detector (e.g., implemented as part of embedded controller 206, user interface devices 207, and/or agent 211). Then, at block 704, method 700 greets the visitor using the previously recorded text, audio, or video greeting.

At block 705, method 700 captures a speech utterance or audio instruction from the visitor. After block 706, if the audio instruction directs client device 102 to record an audio or video message (or if the visitor is silent or incomprehensible to VSP 104), block 707 prompts the visitor for the message. If the visitor verbally chooses to leave the message at block 708, block 709 records the audio or video message and optionally captures a still image of the visitor or the work environment. Block 710 checks settings or preferences set by the user in rules database 404), composes, and sends the visitor's message to the away user.

In some implementations, method 700 may transmit the audio or video message to VSP 104, and transmit the resulting text message to the away user via e-mail, text message, or Short Messaging Service (SMS), or Rich Communication Service (RCS).

At block 711, if the audio instruction includes a contact inquiry for the away user, block 712 may check responsive settings (e.g., in rules context and/or state database 405) and assess stored contact options (e.g., in rules database 404). If contacting the away user is permitted, block 713 passes control back to block 707. Additionally, or alternatively, block 712 may playback a message or instruction containing the contact information of the away user.

At block 714, if the audio instruction includes a location or status inquiry about the away user, block 715 may again check responsive settings (e.g., in rules context and/or state database 405) and assess stored contact options (e.g., in rules database 404). Then, block 716 may cause client device 102 to playback a message containing a location and/or status of the away user. For example, the location and/or status may be obtained from context information received from client device 102, a calendar application, a map or Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) application, or the like.

To illustrate operation of method 700, consider a first scenario where a user sets up his away-assistant by recording a personal greeting at client device 102 (e.g., a laptop). The user also allows the assistant to have visibility into his personal calendar application, enables speech-to-text translation, and message forwarding to a mobile device. Later, the user leaves his cubicle with client device 102 in it. Upon lock-screen, the away-assistant (e.g., client 211) becomes active and begins to detect the presence of individuals using the camera, microphones, keyboard, and/or mouse on client device 102.

A visitor enters the users cube to speak with the away user. Upon entering, client device 102 plays an audio or video greeting: “Hi, I'm away from my desk for the moment, but if you′d like to leave a message my away-assistant can help you.”

In this case assume that the visitor does not respond intelligibly (that is, the “no input” scenario of block 711), therefore the away-assistant does not detect any response. The assistant checks the away user's schedule, and sees that the away user is free, and makes an inquiry of the visitor: “Would you like to leave [the user] a message?” Detecting an affirmative response to its inquiry, the assistant prompts for a message to be recorded: “You may begin recording at the tone.” A tone plays and the visitor records a message for the user: “Hi [user], I just stopped by to talk to you about H. Let me know when you're back and we can sync up.”

The assistant may take a photo from the camera feed, record the speech for later playback, perform speech-to-text transcription (e.g., using VSP 104), and automatically forwards an SMS to the away user's phone with the message contents and the photo.

Now assume a different scenario where a user sets up her away-assistant, does not record a personal greeting, allows the assistant to have visibility to her calendar, enables speech-to-text translation (e.g., using VSP 104), and sets message forwarding to her email account. At some point later, the user leaves for a meeting. Upon locking her screen, the away-assistant becomes active and begins to detect the presence of individuals using the camera, microphones, keyboard, and mouse on client device 102.

A visitor enters the away user's cubicle and, upon entering, client device 102 detects the visitor's presence and greets him: “Hello, [the user] is away at this moment, can help you?” The visitor asks: “Where is she?” Actively detecting the response, the assistant checks the away user's schedule and sees that she is in a meeting, and responds “[The user] is in a meeting in Coupland until 3:00 pm.”

The assistant audibly prompts: “Would you like to leave her a message?” The visitor responds, “Tell her that I need the sales forecasts for the new product by next Thursday.” The away-assistant detects an affirmative response to its inquiry, takes a photo from the camera, records the speech for later playback, performs speech to text transcription on the message, and automatically sends the message contents and the photo to the away user's email account.

It should be understood that various operations described herein may be implemented in software executed by logic or processing circuitry, hardware, or a combination thereof. The order in which each operation of a given method is performed may be changed, and various operations may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc. It is intended that the invention(s) described herein embrace all such modifications and changes and, accordingly, the above description should be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Although the invention(s) is/are described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention(s), as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention(s). Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims.

Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The terms “coupled” or “operably coupled” are defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless stated otherwise. The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a system, device, or apparatus that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more elements possesses those one or more elements but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Similarly, a method or process that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more operations possesses those one or more operations but is not limited to possessing only those one or more operations. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving an audio instruction from a person other than a user of an IHS (Information Handling System) while the user is away and the IHS is credential-locked, wherein the audio instruction comprises a contact inquiry about the away user; transmitting the audio instruction to a voice service provider, the voice service provider configured to: (i) convert the audio instruction into a text instruction, and (ii) transmit the text instruction to an intelligent assistance provider; receiving a command from the intelligent assistance provider, the intelligent assistance provider configured to generate the command based upon the text instruction; and executing the command, wherein execution of the command causes the IHS to playback an audio message to the person other than the user of the IHS containing contact information of the away user.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio instruction directs the IHS to record an audio or video message, wherein execution of the command causes the IHS to transmit the audio or video message to the voice service provider, and wherein the voice service provider is configured to: convert the audio or video message into a text message, and transmit the text message to an away user of the IHS via at least one of: e-mail, text message, or Short Messaging Service (SMS), or Rich Communication Service (RCS).
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing context information to the intelligent assistant provider, wherein the intelligent assistance provider is configured to generate the command, at least in part, based upon the context information, wherein the audio instruction comprises a status inquiry about the away user, wherein execution of the command causes the IHS to playback a message containing a status of the away user, and wherein the status is obtained from the context information. 